Penning a Legacy Imprisoned and vilified for sought to establish a colony in By Patricia Hudson O. ‘A CHILL WINTER DAY in 1668, 24 year-old William Penn paced back and forth in a cramped chamber in the Tower of London. Arrested for blasphemy after publishing a pamphlet that questioned the Goctrine of the Trinity, Penn was being held in close confinement. The Bishop of London had decreed that if Penn didn’t re- cant publicly he would remain impris- ‘oned for the rest of his life. Penn's reply was unequivocal: “My prison shall be my grave before I will budge a jot for T owe my conscience to no mortal man.” V V iniiam PENN WAS bom on Octo ber 14, 1644, usta stone's throw from the “Tower where he would one day be a pris~ ‘oner. His father, William, Sr., was an am- bitious naval officer who rose to the rank ‘of admiral. Knighted by King Charles 1, the elder Penn formed a friendship with the royal family that would play a major role in his son's future. ‘The Penn family's next-door neighbor ‘on Tower Hill was the diarist Samuel Pepys, who noted in his journal that Ad- ‘miral Penn was'“a merry fellow and pretty ‘good-natured and sings very bawdy songs.” Pepys also recorded instances of William, J, playing cards with his father, going tothe theater, and carelessly Teav- ing his sword in a hired coach and then alee pear it {nident from Penn’s youth shadowed his later eeciipaiea en religious matters—at 17 William was ‘expelled from Oxford University for dar- ing to criticize certain Church of En- sland rituals, Appalled, Admiral Penn packed his overly serious son off to France, hoping that he would grow more worldly amid the glitter of Paris. his religious views, Will the New World where p When William returned to England af- ter two years abroad, Pepys described him ay “a most modish person, grown a fine tentlemen, but {having] a great deal if fot too much, of the vanity of the French garb and affected manner of speech and gait” The admiral, wellpleased with his Feshionable son, sent William to Ireland to attend to family business, but it was there, in 1667, that the younger Penn emm- braced the Quaker faith. Society of Friends—dubbed ir enemies because they sners to “tremble at the *_—had been founded in Fox, a weaver's som poke of the Inner The Quakers by theit admonished liste! ‘word of the Lord” 1647 by George tuned-preacher who ‘Light and believed that there was "that of God in every man.” According t0 Fox, all people, regardless of their status here ‘on earth, are equal in God's eyes. Tt Wat cn pallenge directed atthe very heart of England’s elass-conscious society, and though all religious dissenters were SUP- ject to fines and imprisonments, the ‘rblishment singled out Quakers with particular ferocity. When Penn again retumed to London, his family was aghast at the change in him. Not only did young William insist on at- tending the outlawed Quaker meetings, he also ignored common courtesy by refusing to take off his hat in the presence of “peters,” just one of several methods Friends used to illustrate their belle in equality. In the eyes of acquaintances and family, Wiliam had betrayed not only the religious principles of the Church of En- sland but also his social class. Noted Pepys a ee ‘Penn, who is lately oe peti a Quaker... or liam Penn, a member of the Society of Frien , me he s ds ople of all faiths could live in Bae ea Better educated than most ofthe ety Friends, Penn quickly became one of thir most outspoken advocates, taking pain public debates and writing pampblets th he published at his own expense, One spected London minister, nraged byte cpaversion of two female members fis | congregation to Quakerism sated thst he ‘would “rather lose them oa bawdy hows: than a Quaker meeting” and then went on to denounce the group's theoloey ‘When Penn respondet print, the pamphlet bev ree city and led to his imprsonne the Tower, “Hath goume W: Pes took against the Trinity.” PePys WO find it so well writ, as [think itiee 00d fof im ever to have wait it—and set tus sort of book, and pat Hit for every body to read.” Despite the threat of ment, the failed to dampen Pent He spent his time there draft of No Cross, No Crown, tife imprsot the TONE in part as a favor ( fd Hoaned the cast HUN Te Ta great deal In 1672, William mam ‘Maria Springett 21 years of marriage» the parents of seven © ie ol onsite, OM nell ean from again SNE. vl speaking at Friends ane tical and religious a je Phot wee fer